Crow Hunting
by Kondoru
Summary: When Karasu goes missing, his fellow Dragon Knights have to find him and bring him back. But life is not that simple.


CROW HUNTING By Kondoru. (See, I have a birdie name too.)

Standard Disclaimers.

Thanks to JP for Betaing. (Who has never watched an Anime in his life...)

* * *

Tobi was small.

He got stomped in coop fights.

Sat on in the bath.

His dinner had to be killed before given to him; lest he suffer the dishonour of being bested by it.

The only time he had been on an excursion to the surface, an errant pigeon had mistaken one of Tobis purple braids for a worm, and the Dragon Knight had to manifest his pint sized and powered spin weapon in order to defend himself.

His bunk was only two thirds long.

But Tobi took all his fellows jibes cheerily; little upset his happy personality. He was happy to be a member of the Dragon Knights. This in itself was a great honour.

The Dragon Knights were a select suborder of the Dragon Warriors of the Reizu monastery, who protected their world from extradimensional invaders.

The Dragon Knights had been entirely altered on the Quantum level. They could now break the normal physical laws, levitating, teleporting and moving though solid objects were only some of their abilities. They themselves were indestructible, only a high energy blast could do any damage.

They had also been implanted with Spin Weaponry technology, which utilised reizu, the elementary quantum particles of the universe.

And then they also underwent Reizu pipeline connection. This was to allow them to use both the Reizu quantum mainframe, and to travel though spacetime portals wherever the Lacryman rulers wanted them to go.

Theoretically.

Lacryma was their world, and it wasn't known as the Dimension of Tears for nothing.

It was a grim place.

But as all Lacrymans knew, there was worse, far worse than the eternal suffering of their miserable world.

There was Shangrila.

Shangrila was a Heavenly Hell

So the Dragon Knights put up with a lot.

They put up with hunger, darkness, deprivation, humiliation, madness, pain, regret, loss, and morbidity.

All these and more, to a degree unknown to the less unprivileged kin in the Upper levels of their dungeon city. (The elite and the warrior monks lived in the lower, safer levels.)

Nightmares were just another thing that had to be put up with. Up to a point.

Tobi fought them.

He couldn't do much to fight Shangrila, (at least in physical battle, for Tobi had been chosen for the Dragon Knights Quantum State Alteration because of his ability with the Quantum computers, and his whole unsurpassed understanding of the arcane subject of alternate dimensions. Tobi had been implanted with an impressive amount of computer hardware, where the others had a very basic model, and powerful spin weaponry. Tobis spin weapon was puny and mostly devoted to defence. In many ways he was the most important of the Dragon Knights.)

Tobi, for some reason, always knew about this, perhaps it was his enhanced hearing, picking up whimpering though the metal walls, perhaps it was due to his unnatural affinity with the Reizu quantum computer, which witnessed everything, though never acted. It was a passive device; there to act as an Observer for the Reality the Lacryman Reizu Social Order had created.

Perhaps it was just because he was too good for this world of suffering.

Tobi would rise from his cold steel bunk, cast aside his rough grey blanket, and pad silently out to whoever needed him.

The Dragon Knights all had the luxury of their own grim cells, all the better for quiet contemplation of just how angsty things could be, but the doors were unlocked, Tobi would enter like a black habited shadow, and kneeling by the sufferers bunk, gently shake them into awareness.

It was a great comfort to be roused from some nightmare by Tobi.

His healthy brown skin told tales of a place where the forgotten sun always shone, indeed, he had the light of it in his golden eyes. His hair...well, who cannot smile at the sight of a guy with long purple hair, tied in two plaits?

It was always good to be woken from a nightmare by Tobi.

He was impartial in his attentions, but somehow he ended up at Atoris side the most.

Atori and Tobi were the best of pals.

Atori was a tall lanky man with blonde hair, sticking forwards in a great quaff. He had eyes as purple as Tobis hair, and a thin lipped mouth.

Atori was quite psychotic, and prone to fits of homicidal rage.

No one minded this, as long as it was Shangrila which got hurt. Tobi and to a lesser extent Isuka could control Atori, mostly by sitting on him.

Atori didn't seem to resent this; he saw no real threat in Isuka, who was a cheery, nonthreatening type. (Unlike the tormented Karasu, surly Kosagi and flippant Fukuro.) And Tobi was even more harmless.

Tobi was equally free from hate; he forgave Atori even when picked up in one hand by his scruff (or on several memorable occasions, his braids.)

So Atori had Tobi as his saviour. He had suffered a particularly unpleasant childhood.

"Lacryma suits me fine," he always said, "there's something very reassuring about everyone being in the same place as me."

"But don't you want better?" Tobi would chide. Tobi still had dreams of a better place. His background had not been very nice either. But he had done his best to forget the past.

"Do you really think Shangrila is `better` Tobi?" And he would give that horrible smile that frightened even his little friend. "Do you?"

"No, no," Tobi would protest. "Shangrila is awful, I mean better than that."

But Atori could not visualise better. He was eternally damned.

-----------------

It had been a routine alert.

The Ouroboros had appeared, and a Destructor from Shangrila had materialised.

Fukuro, Kosagi and Karasu were sent to stop it. The three Dragon Knights screamed though the sky.

Fukuro and Kosagi powered up their spin weapons and began peppering the offending devices with energy bolts.

Karasus weapon was a little different; his spin weapon took the form of prehensile tentacles. It was versatile and that was why the Dragon Knight had chosen it as opposed to his comrade's missile attacks. Karasu could grab items, swing them about, throw things and jab viciously. Karasu put in much practice with his device, and could lasso an item over a hundred metres away.

Beyond that it was not accurate.

So Karasu had to tackle the Destructor in his own fashion, he circled round the back, carefully avoiding its several pairs of eyes which most unoriginally fired powerful lasers.

Karasu tried to come to rest upon the Destructors back, but was thrown roughly off by a force field.

He cursed. Karasu was determined to bust thought the shielding.

The grey haired Dragon Knight changed his tack; forming his spin weapon into a shielding field of his own, he dived straight towards it, the energy crackled, and Karasu was on the armoured back.

Which didn't stand up long to him.

He plunged though into the heart of the monster, pushing his spin weaponry before him.

"Get out of there, Karasu, its going to go up!" Yelled Kosagi.

The Destructor collapsed in on itself and dematerialised.

Followed by the Ouroboros.

Leaving two shocked Dragon Knights.

--------

Two shaken Dragon Knights made their weary way down though the air vents to the Reizu monastery.

"He's gone" Fukuro shook his head sadly.

The others were pale; they had watched this little scrap by remote cameras.

"What happened?" Asked Kuina, their leader, grimly.

"He bust right though the Destructor, and was caught in it when it dematerialised."

"The Fool." Snarled Kuina, "I told you lot to be careful, hold back."

Fukuro shook his head, ponytail swishing, "I'm afraid Karasu's not the sort to hold back."

"I should have sent Atori; he's good at fighting at a distance."

Atori was whimpering.

Kuina glowered at the blonde Dragon Knight, "except when he's in a mood like this." He paused. "Kosagi, and Fukuro are good at ranged shots, Isuka is best in close work."

The biggest Dragon Knight nodded in agreement, he was generally held in reserve, until a Destructor reached the ground. Then he would rip it apart with his bare hands. He lacked the patience to attack at a distance.

"But Atori and Karasus not specialised." Kuina shook his head. "You lot rest for now. I'm off to see Lady Amamiku, and the Observers. If they can find him, they will, if he's dead," he hung his head, "then we will know at least."

Isuka stood up, "if you find him, you will need an extraction team, wont you?"

"Yes," Kuina checked his reizu computer. He dismissed the readout with a flick of his hand. "Well, he's not dead...yet."

"I'll do it." Tobi said.

"You cant."

"Why not?"

"Because you are no fighter." Fukuro told him.

Tobi shook his head "who's to say there will be a fight? Karasu needs someone who can re-establish his pipeline for him, get a fix...I can do all that. I'm the expert at computers. " He turned to the others "Besides, you're coming with me to fight anything that needs fighting, aren't you?"

"I think..." Atori said.

"Shut up, Atori "said Isuka gravely.

"I can't risk you." Said Kuina. "You're too vital for the Joain project."

"I'll be the judge of that," Tobi was determined.

"I suppose we are going to have to go to Shangrila, bust him out." Grumbled Fukuro. "Do you really fancy risking your precious neck `there`, Tobi??"

"He's not..." Atori said.

"Oh shut up, Atori" scolded Fukuro "Its not like you will be missing him, will you now?"

And it was true; Karasu and Atori were the best of enemies.

Karasu had the sense of humour of a squig, and couldn't stand a more amiably tempered Atoris jabs.

He would snap and snarl back, and that would put Atori into one of his nastier moods.

A fight would ensue, the monastery guards would burst in. (Knight quarters being generously bugged in case of mischief) and both parties, would end up in the correction cells down below.

This was fine if it happened just before the day's sole meal, as it meant everyone else would get their share.

"I'm not afraid of Shangrila" grumbled Tobi, who really was not afraid of anything, not even a really big squig.

"Wont any of you idiots listen to me?" Growled Atori, his normally hysterical voice sounding cracked. "I know where he is!"

"Where then?"

"And how?" Asked Tobi, "You haven't tried to locate him in the Reizu computer."

"But I have seen him there!" Atoris mind raced.

"I don't understand it, you've been in this room the past twelve hours," Kuina spat. "None of your loopy tricks."

Atori breathed deeply, trying to calm himself, he watched Tobis face, who neither sneered nor condemned. Tobi always helped to quieten his high strung comrade's moods. "Listen up! I see Karasu in the computer room lots of times in the past."

"What would he be doing there?" Asked Kosagi.

"He's visiting Haruka." Atoris face was sad; tears were in his big purple eyes.

This was an area Atori and Karasu had in common; they had both lost someone dear to them, and not got over it.

All was silent.

"So you mean you think he's gone to a place where Haruka's still alive?" Said Tobi penetratingly. He powered up his sophisticated implanted computer.

Atori nodded, lost in thought.

Kuina looked pleased. "This gives us a clue. Thanks Atori. " He stood up, "Tobi, Kosagi, Fukuro meet me in the transportation room twenty minutes time, check your spin weapons, go to the bathroom and try to keep calm."

"Cant we all go?" Asked Isuka.

"No, three will be enough." Kuina held up his hand, "I'm off to the Quantum computer...Let Haruka find Karasu herself." He strode out of the room.

All eyes were on Tobi. Kosagi stood up; she looked questioningly at Fukuro, who nodded.

Tobi shook his head; "let's hope Atori was right."

* * *

Three transportation portals stood open. A fourth was being readied by technicians.

The three would be time travellers filed in, enshrouded in their layze capes.

Kuina stood by the portals, "ok, any backing out now?"

All three shook their heads silently. Using the portals carried great risk at the best of times; it was a purely voluntary act.

"Right. It's a simple mission, get in, get Karasu out. Tobi, you think you can locate him fast enough?"

Tobi nodded.

"Kosagi," he held out a cylinder that looked rather like the plug end of a pipeline, though it was not connected to a reizu pipe. "Put this in your other umbilical. It's a reizu battery. If Karasu is inert, exhausted or wavering in wherever dimension he is in, it will give him a welcome boost."

"Fukuro, the technicians are just connecting a new pipeline, you will wear that plugged into you. The portal you will be using is rigged so you can carry two pipelines instead of one."

"Good thing we all have two umbilicals." Fukuro commented dryly.

"When you reach Karasu, give it to him. As soon as he plugs it into himself, I've set the system on automatic recall. With any luck he will pop up in this fourth portal."

"I don't want him materialising in a portal I'm trying to use. That could be messy."

Kuina shook his head. "I think your safe enough. Though I will tell you, We have never tried putting two pipelines though one portal."

"I'm not afraid." Growled Fukuro.

"Nor am I" said Kosagi.

"You've nothing to be worried about," said Tobi, lightly, "I'm the one who will be stomped in a fight.

"That's why I'm sending these two toughs with you." Smiled Kuina. "Any questions?"

Fukuro nodded grimly, "so it won't matter which of the pipelines I give Karasu?"

"No, if you hand over yours, you will simply materialise in the other portal."

"What if Karasu refuses the pipeline?" Asked Kosagi.

Kuina grinned broadly. "Tell him he's a slacker and shove it up his butt."

They all laughed at that.

"No, seriously, don't make him take it. If it doesn't," he paused; "we will just have to eat his share of supper for him."

The three Dragon Knights nodded. To be wired up to the Lacryma Reizu computer was always an act of free will. But you had to be prepared to take the consequences of disconnection from Reality.

"I'll tell Karasu its honey ant pie for supper." Tobi added.

"Portals are ready and connection with the Knights location established," the pressure-suited technician told them. "Countdown is thirty seconds and running."

The three Dragon Knights stepped onto their portals, they plugged the Reizu pipelines onto the umbilicals implanted in their thighs, -Fukuro had one in each of his umbilicals. And tested them for security. Kuina then checked them. Though he never let his team become dependent on his attentions, he had to have his own piece of mind.

"Good bye and good luck."

Fukuro smiled, Tobi waved merrily as he pulled the protective Layze hood over his head. Kosagi laughed with a note of hysteria in her voice.

"Ten seconds and counting..."

Kuina stepped back to the main computer, glancing at the readouts. All was normal.

"Five seconds..."

The brakes on the pipeline winches were disengaged with a groan.

"Four..."

The locks on the portal gates were released, Fukuro shuffled his feet as he felt the gate shift under him. For a horrid second Kuina though his Knight was about to leap off the portal in panic, something that might be messily fatal at such a late time.

"Three..."

Fukuro remained still, with an inward sigh of relief Kuina let out his breath.

"Two..."

The sound of the reizu generators began to increase as the necessary vast energies for dimensional portal creation were generated.

"One!"

The portals opened simultaneously, blue reizu light bathed the Knights.

"Zero."

His three brave charges dropped though the portals, which shut behind them with a final snap, cutting off the light. Only the main hatch remaining open and the tell tale taut reizu power lines were evidence of what had happened.

Kuina settled down to wait.

-------

The Dragon Knights fell a short distance, and landed on their feet, Fukuro stumbling on the rough ground. When the Reizu lights cleared they found themselves in a snowy wood.

Tobi began to shiver, he hated the cold.

"All ok?" Asked Kosagi.

They all checked their personal linkups. All seemed to be fine; the Reizu was flowing at a normal rate. Nor was there any dissonance.

"Look at this, snow!" Whooped Fukuro, and he picked up a handful in his bare hand, putting it down Kosagis neck. Kosagi yelped and shook it out. Tobi took a step back; worried he would be next.

"Can you find him?" Asked Kosagi, glaring at Fukuro who grinned back, letting snow fall from his hand.

Tobi called up his link to the reizu computer back in Lacryma. He had been given a weaker spin weapon, but his tiny body was chock full of the best onboard computers Lacryma scientists could devise. Tobi was in fact a walking computational and sensory array. The Quantum expert released his sensors, and they circled his head, triangulating Karasus location.

Tobi quested round, "over there, hundred and twenty metres." He pointed.

They set off though the woods, slipping and slithering in the unaccustomed snow. Once Tobi bushed against a tree branch, and it dumped its frozen load upon his head. The others wiped it off, and Tobi retreated further into his snug layze.

Kosagi for all her nimble feet, tripped and fell in a drift, and it was Tobis turn to laugh.

But it was Fukuro found Karasu.

Actually he stumbled over him. Karasu was hunkered down in the shelter of a rock. In spite of his black clothes, he was almost invisible in the dark. Snow had fallen onto him, and now he resembled another rock.

"Karasu, Karasu." Tobi crouched down by his comrade and (with only a light shudder at touching snow) brushed the offending element off him.

Karasu opened his eyes, to see Tobis cheery brown face and purple hair. The smallest Dragon Knight had come to rescue him from his nightmares, as he always did, but why weren't they in the safety of their quarters?

Kosagi crouched upwind from the pair of them, pulling out her layze cape to shield them from the biting wind. Meanwhile Fukuro watched for potential enemies. "We found you."

"Tobi, Kosagi, Fukuro...You came for me, into my dreams..." He shook his head.

"We wouldn't abandon you." Fukuro told him.

"We would follow you into Shangrila itself" affirmed Kosagi.

"You travelled back in time." Tobi told him, "fifteen years."

"I saw her..."

"I'm getting cold," grumbled Kosagi,

"It's so cold here." Groaned Karasu; he shivered and all knew it was not from cold, he was wavering.

Kosagi unplugged the battery from her hip, and pulling back Karasus layze cloak, (in itself a big breach of etiquette) slotted it in his umbilical socket.

"Ah!" Karasu stopped wavering, his face flushed in colour and he suddenly stood up. "Reizu! You brought me reizu!"

"We brought you more than that," Fukuro gestured to his two pipelines, "we got you a ticket back to miserable old Lacryma."

Karasus eyes focussed on his best friend. "I needed that. I was very thirsty, and ended up eating snow, but no reizu." Reizu water was what they were given to drink in the Dragon warrior's monastery.

Tobi retched.

"Lets get going." Kosagi told them, "were doing nothing but get chilled standing around here."

"I'm miserable," said Tobi, who was also anxious to get back into the warm.

Fukuro unplugged the pipeline and handed it to Karasu, who grabbed it like a drowning man offered an aqualung. His hands were shaking so much from cold, nerves, travel and general exhaustion he couldn't plug it in at first, so Tobi guided it in. The automatic recall kicked in, and they were whisked away into their real world.

------

It had been nearly ten minutes before the Dragon Knights located their missing comrade, and re-established the connection with the quantum computer which gave him reality, but for Kuina it was a mere twenty seven seconds by the atomic clock.

The portal gates snapped open, all four of them, the winches cranked, and four brave warriors rose into view.

The gates closed.

"We did it!" Tobi jumped from his portal, cloak flying, his victory dance only slightly curtailed by the pipeline.

"Four birds return to the coop! Count them!" Whooped Fukuro, high fiving Kosagi, who yipped in triumph.

Meanwhile Karasu fell to his hands and knees; he retched up a lot of water.

All over Kuinas feet.

------

Kuina stepped past a lot of the nurses attending cumbersome monitoring equipment. He had no idea why they all had to crowd out the med bay. Couldn't this be done remotely? He had concerns over nasty diseases found in the past, but not in Lacryma. Such things could wreak havoc both in the upper and lower levels of their city. But evidently the Rulers were not bothered by this danger, and so his birds were not in quarantine.

His three Knights were all Sat (sat being the default word, it being obvious they would be sprawling around or jumping about in a minute) on examination tables, naked as day old chicks, stuck all over with sensors. Gooseflesh added to their day old appearance. They also unusually retained their pipelines.

"Feeling fine?" He asked them. (The med report had given a clean bill of health.)

"Terrific." Fukuro drank reizu enhanced water from a paper cup.

Kosagi gave a happy grin. "We did it; we really travelled in time."

Tobi shivered, his thin frame pathetic, "why must the past be so cold?"

So that explained the chilly looks, though the layze suits were proof against pretty much anything, the cold had made a big mental impression on his warriors.

"Was it cold?" Asked Kuina. "I've come to give you all a clean bill of health."

Tobi began ripping off sensors, much to the annoyance of his attendants. "It was snowing! If I hadn't checked my chronograph, I'd have though we were in an Ice Age!"

"Slow down, Tobi," scolded his commander, "and you, Fukuro don't damage the equipment," he glowered at the offender who was hand on sensor, twisting it in order to unstick it. Meanwhile Kosagi poked an exploratory finger into her right umbilical, in defiance of Dragon Knight rules.

"Oh, Commander, I'm chilly, I want my clothes on." Protested Tobi.

"You will get your clothes on...in the morning."

Tobis earnest face was stricken. He shivered in misery.

"This is the first time any of you has travelled in time, right?"

They all nodded.

"You have the green light to go, But I'm putting you in for overnight observation, both by the medics, and," he gestured to the pipelines, "the Reizu computer. (Kosagi, get your finger out of there, RIGHT NOW!) Also I want you stuffed Full of Reizu."

"But we've had plenty to drink." Protested Fukuro, gesturing with his cup, blue reizu water slopped.

"I'm taking no risks. How will I explain it to the Rulers if any of my men disappear...While safe in Lacryma med bay?"

"I suppose you have a point" Kosagi ended her unofficial plugging.

"I'm sending down plenty of treats, all I ask of you is to stay monitored and have a good sleep."

"Ok," Fukuro said noncommittally.

"I'm cold" whined Tobi. "I want my layze;" he snivelled pathetically in a manner more becoming to Atori than him.

"I'll send out for extra blankets." Grumbled Kuina. "No Layze, don't any of you dare call up your layze, If I get reports of you getting dressed while you are in med bay I'll have you join Karasu!"

All three were silent.

"What's with Karasu?" Asked Fukuro, though he already knew the fate of his lifelong friend.

Kuina shook his head. "Karasus in disgrace."

They all looked shocked.

------

Karasu lay sprawled out on the floor of the correction cell. He felt awful, as if he had been violently shunted to another world.

But of course, that was what had happened to him, wasn't it?

Karasu shook his shaggy maned head, and looked around.

His dimly lit prison was about six feet by six. The cell was surrounded on all sides, and floor, and ceiling, by force fields behind thick metal walls. These were all backed up by reizu shields, the force fields kept him in, the reizu shields kept his senses in and the senses of his comrades out. Karasu was as cut off here as he was back in that snowy place.

But at least there he had Haruka,

Karasu sighed.

To see her...Alive.

In many ways he wished the incident with the Destructor had dragged him off to Shangrila.

He didn't want to think of what `pleasures` Noein would subject him to in his infernity.

Karasu was unrestrained, nor were there any signs of the varied and ingenious Disciplinary machines that normally graced the correction cells in the secure level of the monastery.

So far, he was in luck...And not pain.

He had indistinct memories of being given a quick medical, of being carried by the guards down here. He looked up, for some reason he couldn't understand his pipeline was still connected, snaking upwards, unimpeded by the force fields.

Karasu idly felt his umbilical; yes, he could disconnect it. (No one, ever, was ever forced to wear the reizu pipeline.)

But that would cut off the quantum computer.

And her.

Karasu groaned again.

Yes, he had seen her.

And she was alive.

Back then.

Karasu fell asleep

--------------

He must have dozed only a few minutes when he was woken by the outer metal door sliding back. (It was the wall to his right, and not the one he faced, as he had guessed, there being no obvious door from the inside of the cell.) Outside was Kuina, flanked by two guards.

Karasu scrambled to his knees and bowed his head to the floor. Normally in the correction room he was attached to some infernal device. Extreme submission cost nothing.

"You're mad at me." It was a statement and not a question.

"Why yes," Kuina told his unfortunate knight, "I'm mad at you. That's why you're in here, but not connected to any disciplinary machines. (Karasu shuddered at the term) That will wait until I'm in a better mood."

"I thank you. "Karasu bowed his head even lower. He was very grateful he was not going to be punished in anger. His commander was always very careful about that. Even though he had sometimes a lot to be angry over.

"I accept your thanks," Kuina told him "Karasu, get up and face the far wall, putting your hands where I can see them. I'm shutting down the force field in order to put some water though to you."

Karasu paused, then complied. Dragon Knight discipline precluded nourishment other than what the pipelines supplied during these correctional periods. This was not an opportunity to be messed up.

Kuina gestured his escort forwards, they stood there, quarterstaves at the ready, while the commander, shut down the cell gate, he placed a tin cup of water inside, then powered up the field again. "You may turn around."

Karasu bowed down, head against the metal of the floor. "I thank you," he said with genuine gratitude he rose, picked up the cup, and drank. It was ordinary distilled water, but that didn't matter.

"Better get it all into you. I'm taking the cup away, the rulers do not know of this breach of custodial regulations." Kuina told the errant knight.

Karasu paused, "don't get into trouble on my behalf. Please." He pleaded.

"Never you mind about me."

"I do mind about you, I mind about everyone." Karasu told his leader. "And thanks for coming after me.

Kuina waved a hand airily. "Never you mind that. You can sleep, I know you are exhausted, but afterwards call up your computer and write me a full report on what you saw in that Dimension of the past, wont you?"

Karasu checked his Reizu PC. Yes, it was another thing he still had. Evidently kept activated by the mainframe. This was another breach of the extremely strict custodial discipline. But the rulers were no doubt eager to hear more about the New World, get a fix upon it.

"I'm leaving you loose for now."

"Thank you my commander." Karasu was really being treated with a ridiculous degree of softness, wasn't he? He didn't need to be allowed the use of his hands to use his computer; it was activated by thought alone. He made use of such freedom by bowing down again.

"Goodnight. I will be seeing you again 1200 tomorrow."

"Goodnight"

---------

Karasu spent a relatively comfortable night. True, he was on the steel floor, but mattresses were non existent in the Reizu Order monastery. There was a slight lack of facilities, so Karasu pretended it had been Atori who had peed in the corner. (He could never understand how Tobi could share a cell with that piddlebottomed wretch) He lay back, looking at the reassuring pipeline snaking though the ceiling, and began his report.

Karasu composed a mental picture of the snow, the cold wind, the icy pine trees, the dark clouded sky, the scent of icy earth, he added the cold of snow in his mouth, and its slightly organic taste, different to the reizu water he normally drank.

He showed his view of the wintry city, and of the people he had watched from his perch on a tall building.

He wasn't alone; periodically one of the Rulers would interrupt him, and ask him to go over a memory. They cross-examined him, and Karasu replied with a sensible amount of patience.

He knew he couldn't conceal anything from the Rulers.

He told them all about her.

In this world Haruka was still alive.

"That is what must have brought you there." Said another Ruler.

Karasu nodded. "I suppose if we go far enough back, she would still be around, wouldn't she?" He admitted.

Eventually his intimate cross-examination came to an end.

"You did a very good job," Karasu, said the nameless Ruler, "to both hold together and observe things at the same time. I'm sure in the future we will have scouting duties for you. Now sleep."

So Karasu slept, and yes, he dreamed.

------------

At noon, as he had promised Kuina came for him. "Great news."

"Mm hn?" Said Karasu from his suitable position with his forehead on the floor.

"The Rulers are pleased with your report, `very` pleased."

"Ah?"

"They have found a past reality. And," Kuina continued, satisfaction in his voice, "the Observers have established a connection there."

"That's very good."

"And very good news for you too. You're released from here; your correction will be a slap on the wrist. And after that its 72 hours off and extra rations reward for being so brave."

"Thank you." Replied Karasu who still hadn't worked out fully what he had done wrong.

-----------

His punishment, as ever, did indeed involve finding out his crime.

Kuina was nothing if not fair over that.

And Karasus slapped wrist stung for months...

He was taken to the main quantum computer room.

Karasu was not unfamiliar with that chamber. He was rather too familiar.

His beloved was there.

This was the biological part of the computer.

Certain people many years before had volunteered to become part of the Massive quantum computer, the biggest and most sophisticated ever made, that recorded everything and all living things, and made sure they stayed real, and were not absorbed by Shangrila, who had a habit of annexing anything somewhat unreal, and to Noein anything human was unreal and so a legimate target.

The volunteers were there as pure organic observers, and acted as the computers living brains.

They themselves were dead. Living sacrifices to the continued and admittedly rather sorry reality known as the Dimension of Tears.

(No wonder Noein was fascinated by the place. He himself wanted to end all suffering, and unsurprisingly he took a secret and perverse delight in others misery.)

Haruka was one of those selfless people.

Karasu had been devastated, he had tried to persuade her otherwise, but she naysaid him, he, after all, would make a greater Dragon Knight than she ever could.

So many people had died for the Joain project, if she was to be one of them, then let her death count.

Kuina stepped up to the Reizu water filled tubes which housed the sacrifices.

Karasu followed in silence. He grimly examined the dark robed body in the tank, not daring let his face display any emotion.

Unlike many of the others, she was smiling.

But then, Haruka was too good for this miserable world...

"This is your Haruka." Kuina told him quite unnecessarily.

Karasu nodded.

"The Haruka you saw in that world is `just` an illusion."

"Illusion?" But the world he had visited was no illusion; he had felt its chill in spite of his cosy layze, the wet of snowflakes falling on his face, the scent of pine trees, the melting of snow in his dry mouth...

Kuina sensed the disbelief in Karasus voice, Damn him for finding his way back! This could cause no end of problems should the Rulers send scouts to that world they had connected to! "It's an illusion, believe me."

"I believe you."

And he did...for a little while.

-------------

Back in the coop (as their quarters were humorously called.) Karasu was greeted with an unusual degree of joy from his fellow birds, he was hugged, backslapped, pinched to see if he was real, bounced upon, and generally made very welcome.

"We got you back!" Cried Tobi. "And I travelled in Time! I'm a real Dragon Knight now!"

"Tobis so very brave...And you too." Atori was in one of his happier moods. He was smiling.

"I wish I had gone with you." Said Isuka. "I volunteered."

"We all volunteered." Said Fukuro, "we would have all gone, but Kuina said we only needed three."

"Tobi had to go," said Atori, and it was plain he had been worried about the little quantum expert, "to track you."

"You were covered in snow. Burr! Can't you find a place that's warmer?" Tobi chided.

"Me and Fukuro protected Tobi "said Kosagi.

"Yes, you did a fine job when that tree dumped snow on my head!" Grumbled Tobi.

"I wouldn't abandon my old pal," Fukuro added, "Id have followed you into Shangrila itself."

Karasu shook his head sadly. "You all would, I know it, you all would follow me into Noeins little Hell, wouldn't you?"

His comrades all shouted their assent.

Karasu had to smile.

Noein was not safe as long as the Dragon Knights were around, and more to the point, now could travel the dimensions at will.

This little incident had proved that.

He sat down and picked up a fat squig from a plate, deftly bashing its head in on the table before biting a piece off. (It was poor table manners to eat them live.)

"We have smuggled in some rotgut!" Isuka waved a bottle.

"We are going to get into trouble!" Hiccupped Tobi gleefully; who evidently was full of the vile brew.

Karasu shook his head. He got up, stomped though the room and out into the corridor, when he reached his door, he flicked it open with a bang, and just as violently shut it behind him.

"Karasu..." said Kosagi.

"I'll go to him," said Fukuro. He then paused, "though I will wait a minute." The scarred Dragon Knight turned back into the common room. He sat down.

Kosagi pushed fungus chips around her plate. "Do you think Kuina was so very hard upon him?"

They all shook their heads.

"We will be given the report when our breaks over." Said Atori. The Dragon Knights were never bothered with non urgent business during these periods. In fact their computers were blocked.

"Yes, if it were serious we would be told now." Added Isuka, who never worried about the future much. He looked at Atori. "But Karasu `did` travel to Haruka's world, didn't he? You were right."

Atori said nothing to this, biting at a live squig. (Atori had no manners.)

Kosagi shrugged. "We saw nothing except trees and snow."

Fukuro stared into space. "The ways he's acting. I think Karasu saw `something` that bothered him."

Tobi took another pull of his rotgut, and shook his head slightly so his braids jiggled. He would be needed in the night.

And it wouldn't be Atori this time.

* * *

Karasu and the others put the incident out of their minds

For a little while longer.

* * *

On re watching this incident. (its the first part of Ep 1, if you aren't sure.) I realised Karasu and the others `were` hooked up with their reizu pipelines...Never mind.

A good story about Time travel is Terry Pratchets `Nightwatch` Which gets round the problem of paradoxes neatly. this is one of his best books.


End file.
